Holocaust When Ship Catches Fire

Chronicle (Levin), 19 September 1949, Page 5

Holocaust When Ship Catches Fire

PANIG BREAKS OUT; OVER 200 DIE . Heceived Sunday, 8.20 ,p.m. OTTAWA,. September 17, At least 216 persoffs are believed.to have been killed in a swift disa'strbus fire that swept the Great Lakes cruise ship, Nnronie, 6905 tons, early this morning' at the Toronto dock. The bodies of 111 passengers have been reoovered while 105 other passengers are . listed as dead or missing. The victims included men, women and children. More thah 100 persons "were inju'red. • The victims were burned to death in c'abins, corridors and on the decks. Some were suffocated as they slept. Others were trafnpled to death in an hysterical niob fight. Several were drowned when they leaped overboard. • . . , Tlie "watch crew" of about 20 men who were on board, escaped -after assisting to fight the fiames. The remaioder of the crew were ashore on leave. Surviving passeiigers and the crew were engaged in bitter argument^tonight over who was to bhame for the high death toll. yome passehgers said the crew did little to help them. Oh'ew members said drunken passengers who liad been merrymaking in the3 ship 's bar until a few minutes beibre the fire broke out, caused a panie which spread even more rapidly than the fire. The fii'e spread t'h'e entire length of the vessel iil -15 minutes and it was eight liours before firemen were able to extingtiish the fiames. -

Mr. Iv. R. Marshall, president of the Canada Steamship Lines, which owned the ship, said 'tonight it had been, useertained beyond any reasonable doubt that there was no negligence on the part of the crew or company. He said the "ship was well equipped with; every' niodern firefighting device. "Although the investigation was in-^ complete," he added, "it appeared that; the fire begaii in one of the passen-. gers ' staterooms. Either a lighted t-igar or eigare'tte niay have been left in the statei'oom which was lel't unoccupied, and as a result there was no iimnediate report of the beginning of tlie fire. Certainly none of the oflieer's or crew knew of tlie fire until it became uncontrollable. " The ship carried 515 passengers, niostly Americans, who went aboard at; Detrolt or Cleveland for a cruise along Lak«es Krie and Ontario. • Eyewitnesses said acts of extreme beroism and abject coWardice marked the disaster. They told of passengers who risked their lives to help others; and of men who trampled others underfoot int hysterical attempts to reach safety. The fire broke out oulv a few minutes after tlie sliip's bar doors had been closed on a group who had heeu drinking heavily and who set out to continue their party in snia-11 groups in the eabins. Oue eyewitno*ss said the mcrrvmakiiig had been so boisterous, "we tliought it was just a drunken praetieal joke when we heard shrieks of 'fire.' Much of the hysterta originated with tlie (Irunkeu parties. " fiames shot 100 feet into the air as frantic passengers, tnhny clad in irnderwear or nightclothes and some naked, ran blindly ahqut screaming wildly, Many lea'^4d Werb'dhf d " into the lake or down to the wharf. 1 A harbour taxipilot said the people 'droppOd off the Noronic into the lake like flies. When he pulled alon'gside the blazing ship scores of people jumped down to his boat. ' ' They erashed through the roof, smashing the lights and seats ihside," he said. A woman passenger said: "A mob surged back and forth on deck. Men

Were pushing women around and many were khocked to the floor. -Screams filled the air. There was so much panie I don 't know how so rnany people found safety. I slid down a rope. " Anothet woman said: "Someone threw a rope over the ship's side. I put a hitch knot iu it. Then tliree men. pushed in fronf of me, shoved some screaming women out of the way and scrambled down the rope." All'red Peterson, a watchman, who also survived the blaze which destroyed the Noronic 's sister ship Ilanionic iu 1945, said: "Bodies were falling all around me on deelc. Soon screams were mingled with the cries of the injured. ' ' Many of the passengers received injuries breaking port holes and climbing through broken glass. . Several passengers who praised the crew highly, said the crew did all they •could but the fire spread so quickly that they did not have a chance of controlling it. One passenger said he saw several of the crew trying to qUeli the fiames with hand extinguishers. 1 ' They might as well have bee'n trying to put out- hell with their foun'tain pehs, " he said. O'thers praised the bravery -of Oaptain William Taylor who stayed on the ship when the ship -was burning from one end to the other. "He burst in cabin doors and hauled passengers out on che deck," said oue survivor. "Then h'e stood on the bridge with a hose in his hand till the bridge collapsed under ■ him." 'Firemen eventualiy managed to persuade him to cravvl ashore over a ladder but the ladder broke aud be feli into the water. He was then helped to the dock. Most of the 'dead were trapped in the eabins. Whole families were wiped out. vFiremen told of finding charred groups ofith arms about each other. Most bodies were burned beyond recognition. Red Cross workers said it would be weeks in some cases before identilication could be made and that would possibly only be through heat twisted bracelets, rings and other personal ornaments. All that was left of the ship tonight was a mass of debris.